Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer are an American screenwriting and producing duo. They have generally worked in the genres of science fiction and fantasy. They have served as

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...

s for the TV shows ''

Smallville ''Smallville'' is an American superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produced by Millar Gough ...

'', ''

Melrose Place ''Melrose Place'' is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on Fox from July 8, 1992, to May 24, 1999, for seven seasons. The show follows the lives of a group of young adults living in an apartment complex on Melrose Place, in ...

'', ''

Shadowhunters ''Shadowhunters'', also known as ''Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments'', is an American supernatural drama television series developed by Ed Decter, based on the book series ''The Mortal Instruments'' written by Cassandra Clare. It premiered ...

'' and ''

The Mysterious Benedict Society ''The Mysterious Benedict Society'' is a quartet of children's books by Trenton Lee Stewart chronicling the adventures of four children, initially gathered together by the eccentric Mr. Benedict. The first children's novels written by Stewart ...

'', and have also been involved in the shows ''

No Ordinary Family ''No Ordinary Family'' is an American television series that aired on ABC in the United States and CTV in Canada. The one hour science fiction comedy drama was produced by ABC Studios for the 2010–2011 television season. The series ran from ...

'', ''

Alphas ''Alphas'' is an American superhero drama television series created by Zak Penn and Michael Karnow. It follows a group of people with superhuman abilities, known as "Alphas", as they work to prevent crimes committed by other Alphas. The series ...

'', '' Defiance'', ''

Dominion The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 1926 ...

'' and ''

Guilt Guilt may refer to: *Guilt (emotion), an emotion that occurs when a person feels that they have violated a moral standard *Culpability, a legal term *Guilt (law), a legal term Music *Guilt (album), ''Guilt'' (album), a 2009 album by Mims *Guilt ( ...

''. Slavkin has occasionally directed episodes of the TV series in which they are involved.

Early life

Slavkin and Swimmer met when they were both students at Palms Junior High School in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

; they have been friends ever since.

Career

The two wrote the screenplay for the 1994 TV movie ''Natural Selection'', as well as the 2004 direct-to-video film ''

Control Control may refer to: Basic meanings Economics and business * Control (management), an element of management * Control, an element of management accounting * Comptroller (or controller), a senior financial officer in an organization * Controllin ...

''. From 2003 to 2009, they wrote 24 episodes of ''Smallville'', and received story credit for another two episodes. Slavkin also directed two of the show's episodes. They also helped with the show's production, eventually serving as showrunners for ''Smallville'' in its eighth season, from 2008 to 2009, along with Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson, after the departure of original showrunners and series creators

Alfred Gough Alfred Gough (born August 22, 1967) is an American screenwriter, producer and showrunner. He is best known as co-creator of The WB/The CW's Superman prequel series ''Smallville'' and Netflix's ''Addams Family'' spin-off series ''Wednesday''. Al ...

and

Miles Millar Miles Millar (born 1967) is an Australian-British screenwriter, showrunner, producer and director. He is known for co-creating the long-running Superman prequel television series ''Smallville'' and the Tim Burton Netflix ''Addams Family'' spin- ...

. After ''Smallvilles eighth season, the two left to develop and run the series ''

'', which lasted for one season from 2009 to 2010. They also wrote the series' pilot and final episodes. They wrote three episodes of the 2010-2011

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

science fiction series ''

''. They served as consulting producers on the second season of the 2011-2012

Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

series ''

''. They served as first consulting producers, then executive producers, for the 2013-2015 Syfy series '' Defiance'', and wrote six of the show's episodes. Slavkin directed one episode. They served as executive producers for the 2014-2015 Syfy series ''

'', for which they also wrote one episode. The served as executive producers, and wrote two episodes, of the 2016 British-American mystery series ''

''. They served as showrunners of the Freeform supernatural drama series ''

'' for seasons two and three, replacing series creator

Ed Decter Edward Ichabod "Ed" Decter (born May 19, 1959) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Early life and education Born in West Orange, New Jersey, Decter graduated from Wesleyan University in 1979. Career His credits include, ...

, who left the show over creative differences. During that time, the two wrote four of the show's episodes, and Slavkin directed two episodes. The two are currently showrunners for the

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...

mystery adventure series ''

'', which started airing in 2021.

References

External links

* * Year of birth missing (living people) Screenwriting duos Living people Filmmaking duos American television writers American male television writers American television producers {{US-tv-writer-stub